


Noah the Matchmaker

by BensonsFaerieWings



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BensonsFaerieWings/pseuds/BensonsFaerieWings
Summary: Noah asks the squad to help him get Barson together for Valentine’s Day.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25
Collections: Barson Valentine's Day Collection 2021





	Noah the Matchmaker

Author’s Note: This is part of the Barson’s Valentines Day Collection 2021. I do not own any of these characters, they all belong to Dick Wolf, but I have borrowed them for a play date. This is going to ignore the most recent Barba episode we were graced with.

The Prompt I was Given: Noah asks the squad to help him get Barson together for Valentine’s Day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on, Noah, I am going to be late. Make sure you have your IPad and charger, and all your schoolwork. You are going to need to entertain yourself while I work.” Liv yelled down the hall as she tried to grab all of her things for the day, completely thrown off by the snow day that also had Lucy stuck in New Jersey. 

“But, I don’t want to go to work with you.” Noah whined as he threw his things in his bag haphazard. “I want to go sledding with Lucy.” He sat down on his bed with a hmph. 

“Well, Lucy is stuck in New Jersey until the plows come and the trains are running again. She said that she would come get you if she got back before we leave work.” Liv looked around the corner and the disappointment on her son’s face nearly killed her. She knew he had been looking forward to sledding ever since he saw the snow in the weather forecast earlier that week. She wished that she could take the day, but the pile of paperwork on her desk spoke differently. “Auntie Amanda, Uncle Sonny and Uncle Fin are looking forward to seeing you today. You know they always have fun treats in their desks for you, but you won’t know what they are unless we get moving.” She said messing up his curly hair.

Noah swatted her hands away, “Mom, I just brushed it like you told me to.” He fell over laughing as she tickled him. “Alright, fine.”

“Put your boots and coat on. I have to go grab my bag. I will meet you by the front door, young man.” She laughed as she stood up and walked back to her room to finish getting herself ready to go. 

As they walked through the city, Noah asked, “Mom, can I see Uncle Rafa today too?” 

Liv sighed a little sigh knowing that her son missed her best friend as much as she did and did not understand why he had not been around much lately. “Noah, remember we do not work together anymore.” 

“So, maybe he is home and I can go sledding with him instead. You should text him. PLEASSEEE.” He begged.

“Noah, the last time I heard, Uncle Rafa was in Iowa.” She paused thinking of her friend and how she had not reached out in some time to see how he was doing. “Maybe Auntie Amanda can help you FaceTime him while I am in my meeting this morning. You can ask him yourself if he can go sledding with you.” 

Noah grinned up at her, “That is a great idea!”

They walked into the squad room and thanks to her early morning text to her crew, they were all excited to see Noah just like she had promised. Of course, he ran straight to Amanda’s desk excitedly shouting, “Mom said you will help me call Uncle Rafa on my FaceTime.” 

Amanda laughed and took it in stride, “Of course, buddy, but I get a hug first.” She said reaching down to get a hug from the little boy. “Let’s put your stuff in the interview room and then we will get you set up for FaceTime.”

Liv yelled across the squad room, “Noah, did you say Good Morning to your uncles?” She laughed and rolled her eyes as she walked into her office to face her day. She leaned her head out the door, “Be good, Noah. Guys, I have a meeting with the Chief on Zoom, I should be off in an hour.”

“We got it, Liv.” Fin yelled from the interview room where her best detectives were already hanging out with his son. 

“Hopefully today stays calm,” Liv thought to herself as she closed the door behind her. These early morning meetings were never a good sign, but at least she got it over with early in the day. 

While Liv was in her meeting, Noah and Amanda set up his IPad and called Uncle Rafa, who answered on the second ring. “Uncle Rafa!” yelled Noah. 

“Hey, buddy, what are you doing out of school?” He asked. 

“It’s a snow day. Wanna go sledding with me?” Noah asked quickly. 

Amanda laughed and turned the IPad towards her, “Hey, Barba, how are you? We have a visitor helping us solve crimes today, but we think he would rather hang out with you than us.” 

Noah laughed and turned the IPad back towards him. “Auntie is silly. But I definitely would rather be sledding than inside. So, can we?” 

Rafael laughed and wished he could do exactly that, but unfortunately he had to work today, so he broke the news to his adopted nephew as gently as he could. “Unfortunately, mijo, I have to work today too. But I will be back in town in about a month, I promise to take you then if there is snow. How does that sound?” 

Noah pouted, “Why do all the adults have to work?” 

Amanda said from the background, “Now, Noah, we told Mommy we were going to be good. Uncle Rafa said he would be back in a month, so let’s be excited that we get to see him soon.” 

“But how long is a month?” Noah asked with small tears threatening to fall.

“It’s 30 days buddy. I will send you a message later with the exact date so that you can count down to our sledding time, ok? Is that a deal?” Rafael pleaded with the little boy in his head to not cry, as he had a big meeting he was heading into and he could not take it if Noah started crying. The past year had been hard enough without the two of them in his life. 

“Alright, I guess.” Noah sniffed.

“Give your mom my love and I will talk to you later tonight. I have to go inside now.” Rafael said showing Noah the door he was walking in. “I love you, Noah.” 

“Love you too!” Noah said hitting the end button and looking sadly at his aunt. “Auntie, why is Uncle Rafa so far away? I wish he was here always still.” 

Amanda took a deep breath not knowing where this was going. They had all had thoughts about Liv and Barba, but nothing ever seemed to come of it except friendship. They all wished that he had stuck around as she had been so much happier when he was, but he had made his choice for whatever reason that was. “Well, he had to do some things different in his life. We all miss him though.” 

“Not as much as my mom. She cries sometimes if I mention him. Why?” Noah asked innocently. 

Amanda hesitantly paused before she responded, “Well, because he was her best friend. Don’t you have a best friend at school? Would you be sad if they left and were gone?” She asked wishing that Fin or Carisi would come in and save her from this conversation. 

“Yea, if Jake moved away, school would definitely be less fun. Is work less fun for Mommy since Uncle Rafa is gone?” He asked.

“I guess maybe it is. Hey, wanna go see if Uncle Sonny brought cannolis for breakfast again?” She said changing the subject.

“YES!” Noah jumped up and ran towards the door and out to his desk. “Uncle Sonny, do you have breakfast?” He asked, crawling into the young detective’s lap. 

Carisi laughed and said, “Auntie Amanda put you up to this didn’t she?” He pulled open his drawer and revealed a box from his favorite italian bakery filled with cannolis. “A little birdie told me you might be hungry, so I grabbed some on the way in just for you, little man.” 

“Auntie! He has them!” Noah yelled across the squad. Fin and Carisi burst out laughing as Liv opened her door to see what the fuss was. 

“Noah!” she hissed. 

Fin looked at her, “Sorry, Captain, we got this.” 

“Noah, let’s steal Uncle Sonny’s breakfast and go eat them in this room.” Fin said, grabbing the box off Sonny’s desk and leading Noah back to his IPad and school work. 

“Hey, I want one too.” Carisi said, chasing after them. Amanda followed along laughing just as hard as the rest of them. 

When they all sat down and handed out the cannolis, Noah noticed that there were pink and red sprinkles on the ends of the cannolis. “Why are there pink sprinkles on here?” He said scrunching up his face. 

Carisi looked at the end of his, “Oh, I forgot, they only had the Valentines ones this morning. But they still taste the same.” He said, taking a big bite of the one he had grabbed. 

“But it is girly. Why is it pink?”

“It’s for love. Valentine’s Day is the day where you celebrate your love for that special someone in your life.” 

Noah looked at them confused, “What do you mean?” 

Amanda decided to save Sonny from himself, “You know how Uncle Fin is marrying Auntie Phoebe, well on Valentine’s Day, he will buy her lots of red roses and take her somewhere special for dinner and celebrate his love for her. Right, Fin?” She said looking at him with pleading eyes, as the only one in the room in a successful relationship. 

“Uh, yea, sure. It just means that I love her a lot and for some reason everything for the holiday is pink and red. I know it’s silly, Noah.” Fin said skeptically.

Sonny spoke back up, “Don’t you have a special girl at school, Noah?” 

“Uhh eww girls are gross, well except Jessie, Jessie isn’t gross.” Noah said with his nose scrunched up. “Who is your special girl, Uncle Sonny?” 

Sonny looked shocked for a second before he fixed his expression, “Umm, well, Noah, I do not have a special girl either, except Jessie, so I guess we can share her.” 

“So, how do you know if someone is supposed to be your Valentine?” Noah asked with an idea brewing in his mind. 

Fin spoke up, “Well, it is just a thing in your heart that feels right. That person makes you laugh even when you are in a bad mood, or are sad. And it makes you feel better to see them every day. Why do you ask?” 

Suddenly, Noah’s IPad lit up with a message. He went to click it with his sticky fingers, but Amanda caught them and wiped them off. “Auntie, but it's Uncle Rafa! He is telling me when he will be here.” He wriggled from her grip and pushed the message button. 

Mijo, I will see you on February 14th. Mark it on your calendar and hopefully it will snow and we can go sledding. Love you. 

“Auntie, when is that?” He asked, pulling up the calendar. 

“It’s exactly one month from today, January 14th.” She said marking it on his calendar for him. “Now, why don’t you get your school work done and then we can go get some lunch?” She said cleaning up the table from their impromptu breakfast. 

“Oh, alright!” He said grabbing his backpack from the floor. 

Noah did his homework and then colored for a bit, before pulling out his legos to build things. He sat for a minute looking at the set, which his Uncle Rafa had bought him. It made him think about the conversation they had had about Valentines Day. 

He walked calmly out of the room and saw that his mom’s door was still closed, so he walked over to Fin, who was the only one still at his desk. “Uncle Fin, when is Valentine’s Day?”

“Hey, buddy, it is February 14th. What’s up? You planning out your Valentines for Jessie?” He smiled at the boy. 

Noah grinned back, “No.” He turned around and walked back to his IPad and pulled up the calendar. That is the day Uncle Rafa is back. Maybe he can be Mommy’s valentine and cheer her up, he thought to himself. 

He sat down with his pens and paper and started to plan, but all he knew that he needed was flowers and dinner. How could he ensure that they were Valentines? He was going to need help with this one. 

Two weeks went by and he learned that they would be exchanging Valentines at school, so he was going to need to bring them in. It was the perfect excuse to ask his mom about the holiday. 

As they sat over dinner, he watched his mom, who was distracted by something on her phone. “Mom, I need to get valentines. Where do I get them?” 

“Huh?” She said looking up confused. “I am sorry, Noah, did you say you needed Valentines?” 

He rolled his eyes, “Mom, your rule - no phones at dinner.” 

She sighed, “You are right, but you do not roll your eyes at me.” She said sternly while putting her phone face down on the counter. “Now, did you say you need Valentines?”

“Sorry, I rolled my eyes.” He said sweetly, “Yes, we are supposed to bring them to school on February 13th. Where do I get them? Why do I need them?” He asked. 

“They are just little cards to show your friendship to your classmates.” 

“But Auntie Amanda said that it is a holiday for celebrating someone you love. A special someone. Which is it?” Noah inquired. 

“Well, Auntie is right also, but when you are in school they celebrate it with your friends, I guess.” Liv stumbled honestly never understanding the tradition either in school or at home. Though, she did not have the best track record with men in her life. “We can get some at Duane Reade over the weekend and fill them out together for your classmates. Did your teacher send home a list for us to know how many?” 

He shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno.” He said stuffing a slice of pizza in his mouth. 

“Alright, well after dinner, get your backpack so I can look at your school papers. Did you finish your homework?” Liv asked him. 

“I finished with Lucy before dance practice.” He said, taking a sip of his water. “Do you have a Valentine, Mom?” 

“You are my Valentine.” She said, smiling at him. 

“But I am your son. That doesn’t count.” He laughed.

“But you are my most important Valentine.”

“Would you want a special Valentine like Auntie Amanda was talking about?” He looked at her with an expression of complete seriousness. 

“Umm, well honestly, I had not thought about it. I mean I suppose I would but for now I am just focusing on us and work. And cleaning you up from dinner.” She said tickling him as she tried to wipe the pizza sauce off his face. 

A few days later, Noah and Liv were at the park with Amanda, Jessie and Billie and he overheard his mom talking about his Uncle Rafa. 

“But he just walked out of NYC like none of us mattered enough to stick around for,” she said looking off into the distance.

“You mean like you and Noah did not matter enough to stick around for,” Amanda corrected. 

“Amanda, we were not even a thing.” Liv said with a sadness to her voice that even a little boy could recognize. 

“Maybe not officially, but otherwise, you were. You two had eyes for no one else.” Amanda said deadpan. 

“Well, no matter what, he is off in the cornfields of Iowa and I am here in a park with you on a Saturday afternoon. What about you?” That confirmed to Noah that they were talking about his Uncle Rafa, but Noah did not understand what his aunt meant by her end of the conversation. He knew his mom and his uncle were best friends, his mom had always told him that, but he knew that his aunt and his other two uncles were his mom’s best friends too. This was too complicated. He was going to need help figuring it out, so he went back to run around with Jessie. 

Soon, his aunt called him over while he saw his mom walking over towards the pizza stand on the corner. “Noah, come over and get cleaned up for lunch,” she yelled. He and Jessie ran back towards where his aunt was setting out their lunch supplies on a little table. 

“Is Mom going to get the pizza?” Noah asked as his aunt used baby wipes to clean his face and hands. “What kind is she getting?” He spoke around her wipes.

“I think cheese. You want to come hang out at my place after? You can sleepover and watch movies in the living room.” His aunt asked him.

“Yea, Noah! We can watch the Descendents again!” yelled Jessie. 

“Umm, I am not sure. What will my mom do while I am gone?” Noah asked, concerned his mom would be lonely without him there to hang out with tonight. It was usually always just the two of them on the weekends. 

“I have supplies for hot fudge sundaes.” Amanda bribed.

“Who has hot fudge?” Liv asked as she came back with two large cheese pizzas, happy to bring home any extra for leftovers later. 

Amanda started laughing, “Who do you think? I was just thinking that Noah could come over for a sleepover so that you can enjoy some downtime tonight, and I was trying to bribe him with hot fudge and movies.” 

“Oh, Amanda, you don’t have to do that.” Liv started to protest before she saw the look on Noah’s face, “Unless you want to go?” 

“But what will you do?” He asked. 

“Don’t worry about me. I have a huge pile of laundry that won’t do itself, you go have a fun night with Auntie and Jessie.” She said, giving him a hug. 

“Ok! Thanks, Mom!” He said grabbing a slice of pizza and stuffing it in his mouth. “So, hot fudge and sprinkles, Auntie?”

It was Olivia’s turn to laugh, “Oh that’s right, no sundae is complete without sprinkles.” 

“You got it, Noah.” Amanda winked at the little boy. 

As Amanda, Noah and Jessie were leaving Olivia’s apartment after grabbing some things for Noah to sleepover, she whispered to Olivia, “Use this time to contact some important people will ya!” 

Olivia just glared at her and gave her son a hug. “Have fun, I will come pick you up after breakfast. Love you.” 

“Love you, Mom.” 

Later that night at Amanda’s they were having some crafting fun before the movie and making some Valentines, when Noah looked at his Aunt and asked, “What does only have eyes for each other mean?” 

Amanda gasped and looked at him, unsure what to say, “What do you mean, Noah?” 

“I overheard you and Mom talking at the park. You said that her and Uncle Rafa only had eyes for one another. What does that mean?” 

Damn this kid is too smart for words, she thought. She looked over at Jessie, who was clueless to the conversation enthralled in her Valentine for Uncle Sonny. “It just means that they are super close best friends.” 

“Then why does talking to him sometimes make her sad?” He asked curiously. 

“Because she just misses having her friend close by. It’s hard when you have someone you can’t physically see as often as you used to.” Amanda wondered where he was going with this. 

“Like Grandma Sheila is far away now?” 

“Yes, like Grandma Sheila.” Amanda shuttered as she thought of the woman who tried to take Noah from their lives, from Liv’s life. 

“I cried at first when she left, but not anymore.” He said plainly. 

“Well, that is to be expected.” Amanda commented unsure what to say.

“But Mom still cries a lot of times after talking to Uncle Rafa. Why?”

“She just loves him a lot, and it just might be harder on her.”

“Harder than losing a grandma?” He asked.

“It’s a little different losing your best friend than losing your grandma.” Amanda was starting to struggle with all these questions. 

“But at least she can still talk to him. I can’t talk to Grandma Sheila anymore.”

“Does that make you sad, Noah?” Amanda asked warily. She was not really sure where this line of questioning was going. 

“Sometimes, but Mommy says it's because she needs some time to get some help dealing with her own illness. I hope she gets better soon.” 

“So, Noah, are you ready for your ice cream sundae?” She asked, smiling at him.

“Yup.” 

Noah kept thinking about the conversation between his aunt and his mom about his Uncle Rafa. He knew that Uncle Rafa was going to be home in time for Valentines Day and that would make his mom happy. And he would finally get to go sledding because he had told Lucy he did not want to go until Uncle Rafa came. Maybe if Uncle Rafa is her Valentine then she won’t be sad anymore when he calls, Noah thought to himself. But he was going to need his other uncles to help him understand better. Uncle Sonny seemed to understand Valentines more than Uncle Fin, so he would ask him first. His chance would come sooner than he would imagine when he heard a knock at their front door one afternoon, and he heard Uncle Sonny’s voice soon after.

“Hey, Captain, sorry to bother you so late, but I have a few questions about the case we are working?” He asked as he walked in. 

Noah peeked around the corner from his bedroom to see if anyone else was with him, but it was just him. 

“Sure, Carisi, come on in.” Liv said walking back towards the kitchen.

“Uncle Sonny,” Noah said excitedly, sliding into the living room on his socks. 

“Hey, Noah,” he said, giving the little boy a hug. “How’s school going?”

“It’s good. I got all good grades this week!” 

Liv interrupted before Noah went off on a tangent, “Noah, why don’t you go to your room, so I can talk with Uncle Sonny about work?” 

“But, Mom….” he whined. 

Sonny spoke up quickly, “Listen, once I finish up with Mom, I will pop in and we can talk ‘guy-talk’ before I leave. Deal?” He said ruffling the little boy’s hair.

“Alright,” Noah sighed walking back to his room. But inside he was happy his plan to get Uncle Sonny alone worked great.

Uncle Sonny knocked on his door as he was building a castle with his legos, “Hey, buddy, what are you building?” 

“Just a castle I saw in the book we are reading at school. It was the girls’ pick this week.” He said rolling his eyes.

“Let me guess, a love story for Valentines?” Sonny said laughing.

“Yup!” Noah said laughing too. “Speaking of Valentines, Uncle Sonny, how do you get two people to be Valentines?”

“Well, typically, two people choose to be each other’s Valentine, you typically can not make other people be Valentines. Why do you ask?” Sonny asked curious where the little boy was headed. 

“But I want to get Mommy a Valentine that’s not me. But she always just says that she does not have time for another Valentine.”

“Well, your Mommy is busy raising you and bossing around everyone at work. That is a lot for one person. Maybe she just wants to focus on her favorite man.” He said grinning.

“But she is too sad with just me. I do not think that I am enough of a Valentine for her. She used to laugh more.” Noah said pensively.

“Hey, listen, never ever think you are not enough for your Mommy. She loves you more than anyone else in the world, I promise.” Sonny said firmly to ensure that the boy never had any doubts about his mother’s love. 

“I know she does, but it’s different now.”

“Different how?” Sonny said, growing concerned with what was going on. 

“She just does not laugh all the time like she used to. We laugh together all the time, but I notice when she is alone, she is sadder than she used to be. Sometimes she doesn’t notice when I run to the bathroom at night, but I will just see her staring out the window. It makes me sad.” Noah said, looking to his Uncle with a serious expression in his eyes.

Sonny smiled as he thought about how smart and empathetic his nephew was, he truly was Olivia’s son, genetics be damned. This kid is her through and through, he thought to himself. “Well, kiddo, let’s see what we can do. Do you think that something happened to make her stop laughing so much?” He always spoke to Noah like he was an adult, because he always hated when adults treated kids like they could not handle reality. 

“When Uncle Rafa went away, and then even more after Tucker died.” Noah responded simply. “But I have an idea. Uncle Rafa should be her Valentine.” He said smiling up at his uncle.

“Whoa, kiddo, but he is her best friend, and he is in Iowa. How can he be ..” Sonny started before he was interrupted by Noah.

“But he will be home by Valentines Day! We are supposed to go sledding. He promised.” Noah yelled.

“You boys alright in there?” Liv called from the hallway.

“Yup” they both said in unison not wanting Liv to interrupt their planning.

“Oh, that’s right.” Sonny said remembering their conversation from the snow day. “What did you have in mind?” 

“Auntie said that if you are celebrating with someone special you bought them gifts and had a fancy dinner, right?” Noah said, also remembering their conversation. 

Sonny chuckled, “Yes, she did say that. But how do you think you are going to make that happen?”

“I don’t know, I am just a kid.” Noah said laughing at his uncle.

“Point taken.” Sonny said, defeated. “Alright, let me talk to your Auntie Amanda and Uncle Fin and we will see if we can come up with something to help you out.”

“Thanks, Uncle Sonny!” Noah exclaimed, giving his uncle a huge hug. He knew that Uncle Sonny would understand. 

A few days later, Sonny, Amanda, and Fin met at their local coffee shop, hoping that Liv would not pop in for her favorite. Thankfully, the Chief had called her for a meeting before they ran out. 

“Guys, Noah asked me to help him plan a Valentine's dinner for Liv and Barba.” Sonny said, pleading with his eyes for help in how to get out of this situation. 

“And you told him that it was not your place, right?” Fin said plainly.

“Well,” Carisi started.

“Oh, HELL no, I am not getting involved. That is only going to end with a heap of angry Liv that I do not want to deal with.” Fin responded.

“But, it’s for Noah,” Carisi pleaded, knowing that they both would do anything for that little boy. 

“And, who knows, Fin, it might make her a little less testy in the office than she has been lately.” Amanda responded, trying to play on the Sergeant’s emotions.

“I swear, if this backfires, I am blaming the two of you.” Fin responded, throwing his hands up in the air. 

“What does he want to do, Carisi?” Amanda asked.

“He remembered our conversation from the snow day, so dinner, flowers and gifts. Any ideas?” Carisi hoped that his friends had some ideas because there was no way he would be able to face letting down his nephew. 

“Oh just that.” Amanda huffed and Fin just shook his head. 

“Well, Fin, I know you have a great florist for all the flowers you send Phoebe, so maybe you and Noah could go pick out a bouquet for her.” Carisi suggested.

“Exactly, how am I going to explain to Liv that I am taking her child shopping? Me?” Fin laughed at the ridiculous idea. “Liv will see right through that.” 

“He’s right, Carisi.” Amanda said laughing harder.

“Well, I don’t see either one of you offering up ideas.” Carisi quipped. 

“We did not promise a little boy his mother would get a Valentine.” 

“But, guys, come on, it’s Noah.” Carisi pleaded. He was not above begging for this favor.

“You gonna owe me, man.” Fin said, throwing some cash on the counter for his coffee. “I am gonna grab Liv a coffee and keep her from asking questions for as long as possible. Text me with what you need.”

Amanda and Carisi nodded and went back to planning their Valentine mischief. They decided that the easiest would be to have Amanda take Noah for a sleepover and they could get the gifts and what not with the little boy. Then, Fin could usher the gifts in while Liv and Barba and Noah were at the park sledding. They just had to make sure she went to the park with Noah and Barba because normally she would just send Noah off for guy time. Plan B would be that Amanda would see if she wanted to get a pedicure with her and the girls, but that was a stretch since neither of them were particularly girlie. 

The weekend finally arrived and Noah was so excited at Amanda’s house, he was jumping all over the place. And it was snowing so that meant that he would finally get to go sledding with Uncle Rafa, which added to his exuberance.

“Auntie, it’s going to be great. She is going to be so happy.” Noah exclaimed. 

Amanda, Carisi, and Fin were so nervous that it was going to blow up in their faces. But they had a plan to have dinner delivered at 7pm from one of the best Italian restaurants in the city, thank goodness for one of the positives to come out of the pandemic, food delivery from everywhere! Noah said that he planned to just eat and run to his room and play video games after dinner, so that they could have Valentine's time. His words and no one asked what he expected that meant. Plus no one could think of another reason for him to sleepover somewhere since he was staying at Amanda’s the night before. 

Amanda laughed nervously, “I hope so, hunny. Did you eat a lot of candy at school today?” 

“No! Hey, can I call Uncle Rafa and show him the snow?” He said, grabbing his IPad.

“You can try, but it is dark so I am not sure if he will see it. He also might be traveling so don’t be upset if he doesn’t answer.” Amanda responded, grateful for him to get distracted. 

She texted Fin, “You got the flowers? And the cards?”

“Yea.” He responded. Always a man of simple words. 

She texted Carisi, “You got the special chocolates? Make sure they are dark chocolate. She only likes the dark chocolate. And the good red wine!” 

“Got it!” Carisi responded. 

Men! She thought to herself. She wanted to be sure that everything was set because now she was as invested in this as Carisi. She also knew that she would bear the brunt of the anger from Liv and Fin if things didn't go well. 

Noah came running into the bedroom where she had been preparing the Valentine baskets she made for the girls and Noah for the morning. “He is coming, Auntie! He is almost here in NY!” 

She quickly threw a blanket over the supplies she had laid out. “That is great, Noah. Guess your plan is off and running huh?” She smiled at the excited boy.

“What are you doing? I thought you had laundry to fold.” He asked looking around her to see if he could see what she had hidden.

“None of your concern.” She said, raising her eyes at him. “Go play with Jessie.” She said, swatting him playfully as she chased him out of her bedroom. “Jessie, watch a movie with your overly excited cousin, will ya.” 

“Yea, mom! Wanna pick out something, Noah?” Jessie called distractedly from her room. 

“Ok fine!” He responded and then turned to look at his aunt, “But I know you are up to something.” 

GO was all Amanda responded as she walked back to her room and closed and locked the door so she could finish quickly. 

The next morning, Noah was up before the birds, and Amanda did not have enough coffee to keep up with his energy, which infected his cousins. She texted Liv, “What time are you going sledding?” 

She got a slow response back from the boy’s mother, “Up before the sun, I see. I think like 10, I will text Barba.” Liv followed it with a yawning emoji and about a million coffee emojis.

Amanda looked at the clock - it was only 6:30am. How would she entertain him until then. Thankfully, at 7am, Carisi knocked with baked goods and balloons and flowers for the girls, Noah and Amanda. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” he yelled as he walked into her apartment. Clearly, he was as excited as Noah. 

“Turn the volume down a little, Carisi, we are not all awake here.” Amanda grumbled, as she put the flowers in a vase, remembering her own baskets she had to bring out for the kids. “Thanks for the flowers, but you should have brought coffee…” She quipped as he handed her a giant coffee from their favorite place.

“I thought that you might need that this morning. Did you talk to the Captain yet?” He called after her as she walked to her bedroom to get changed and grab the baskets from her closet. 

“Yea, sledding is at 10am, Central Park, I think. She is going to text me to confirm.” 

She walked back out and set the Valentines baskets down on her coffee table. “Happy Valentine's Day!” She turned to Carisi and handed him a card that she had gotten for him with a gift card to his favorite bakery. 

“Awe, you shouldn’t have,” he gushed back at her as the kids tore into their baskets. 

“No, candy before breakfast,” yelled Amanda as she heard the rustling of wrappers. 

“Come on guys, we have hot bagels and croissants here. Want eggs?” Carisi yelled walking into her kitchen to start preparing breakfast. 

Thankfully, breakfast occupied the rest of their time until it was time to go meet Liv and Barba for sledding. Amanda had thrown Noah’s overnight bag, snow tube, and sled into the squad car when she had picked him up from Liv’s the night before. She would drop him off and then meet Fin to drop his overnight bag and check on things for their Valentines surprise. 

“Noah, Jessie, Billie, let’s go. We are going to be late.” Amanda yelled from the kitchen where she threw her stuff into a backpack. Carisi was going to stay and watch the girls with Barba and Liv, while she ran to Liv’s, both to give her a break and to be able to warn them if they left the park earlier than expected. 

“Ready!” Noah said running out with his snowsuit, boots and mittens on. He looked like a little snow yeti ready to attack the snow. 

“I know you are, buddy. Where are the girls?”Amanda smiled at the excited boy. She was not sure if he was more excited about sledding or the Valentine’s surprise he had planned. “Jessie, Billie, move it.” She yelled impatiently looking towards her girls’ room. 

“But, Mom, it’s cold outside.”Jessie whined as she came out in her snow clothes, also looking like a snow yeti, but a grumpy one instead of an excited one. 

“Yes, and you are going to have a blast when you get to the park. Move it.” Amanda spoke sternly. “Billie, do you need help?” She said walking towards the room as her youngest toddled out unsure of her footing in her new snow boots. Amanda giggled to herself. “Alright, sweetie, let’s go.” She picked her up to speed up the pace, and grabbed her bag off the counter. She looked around to make sure that Carisi had grabbed everything of Noah’s and brought it to the car. With that, they were off and there was no looking back now. 

Amanda pulled up to the curb by Central Park and parked the car, and yelled back to Noah, who was already unbuckling his seatbelt. “Wait until we open the door to get out, Noah. Same to you girls!” 

Carisi helped Noah out of the car and grabbed the sleds and snow tubes from the trunk. Amanda grabbed the girls hands, and yelled to Noah to hold onto Carisi’s jacket. She would not be responsible for losing her boss’ son minutes from dropping him off. 

“Mom!” yelled Noah as Liv came into view as they rounded the corner.

“Hi sweet boy! Did you have fun at Amanda’s?” She said, stooping down to give her son a hug. 

“Yup, we played games and then got Valentine’s this morning, and Uncle Sonny made breakfast!” yelled Noah as he looked around for his uncle. “Where is Uncle Rafa?” 

“He is…” Liv started but was interrupted by a voice that made her heart skip a beat. 

“Right here, mijo!” Rafael Barba appeared from behind Liv handing her a coffee and picking up the boy to give him a giant hug. “Are you ready to go sledding?” 

“Uncle Rafa, you came!!!” yelled Noah hugging him back. 

“Of course, I did, I promised. Where else would I be today?” He said as he put him down and turned to Liv, “Hey, Liv.” 

“Rafael, welcome back to New York. Thanks for saving me.” She said laughing nervously as she nodded towards the hill full of kids sliding down the fresh snow. 

Noah started tugging on Rafael’s arm, “Are you ready?” 

Liv objected, “Noah, give Uncle Rafa a minute. Go help Jessie and Billie get ready to go sledding.” 

Noah started to roll his eyes, but did not want to get in trouble, and just said, “Fine, Mom.”

Rafael and Liv talked quietly for a few minutes, but Noah could not hear anything. Amanda and Carisi watched on the sly from a distance, watching the body language to ensure that it did not point to disagreement between the two. But it pointed to just the opposite. Growing impatient, Noah yelled over to them, “Can we go yet, Mom?” 

Liv walked over to him, “Noah, your manners today! Yes, if Uncle Rafa is ready?” She looked over at Rafael with the same smile she had given him so many times, “What do you say, Uncle Rafa?” 

“Liv, will you hold my coffee and phone?” He said, handing her the items before turning to the excited boy. “Carisi, you coming with the girls?” 

Carisi laughed and handed Amanda his coffee, “Of course, let’s go girls!” 

Amanda and Liv grabbed a seat on a bench and quietly watched them sled up and down the hills. After awhile, Amanda looked at Liv and ventured a conversation that could possibly get her into trouble, but never one to keep her mouth shut, she ventured ahead. “So, happy to see him back in town?” 

Liv rolled her eyes, “Yes, Amanda, of course. Noah misses him more than I do, I think.” 

“Umm, I do not think so. I saw that sparkle in your eyes when you just heard his voice. That hitch in your breath as he came into view. A girl knows. He stirs something in there, Liv.” 

“Amanda, tread carefully, or I will put you on graveyard.”

“Come on, Liv, you are my friend today, not my boss. Just be honest with me.” Amanda pleaded.

Liv took a breath, “Fine, I am happy to see him as well. But who knows how long he will be around.” 

Amanda rolled her eyes, “Why not just enjoy your time together. I mean after all it is Valentine’s Day. I could always take Noah again tonight.” 

“Oh stop. Who knows what his plans are after sledding. Plus I have some Valentines for Noah at the house.” 

Amanda looked at her watch and realized it was nearly time to meet Fin and she was clear across town. “Oh that reminds me, let me go drop this stuff off at your place, while they are still busy sledding.” 

“Are you sure?” Liv said, reaching for her keys. 

“Yea, Carisi deserves to be worn out after giving them sugary treats after breakfast this morning.” She laughed as she watched him struggle with the sled coming up the hill. She nodded towards the car, and he nodded back knowing that part b of the plan was kicking into high gear. 

“Alright, we will stay here until you get back. Text if you need anything.” Liv said as she watched Rafael and Noah zipping down the hill again.

Amanda got back to the car, and texted Fin. “You ready? I am leaving the park now. I can pick you up or meet you there?”

“Meet us there.” Fin replied.

“Us, hmmm?” She responded, laughing to herself, knowing that meant he got Phoebe involved. 

Amanda pulled into Liv’s garage and grabbed Noah’s overnight bag from the back and ran towards the elevator. As she got to the door, she heard Fin and Phoebe squabbling back and forth in the apartment. She started laughing and opened the door to a scene she would have never expected. Noah was going to love it, Liv might kill them, and Barba was going to turn a million shades of red. I wish I could see it later! Amanda thought to herself. 

“You all really outdid yourselves.” Amanda said as he walked out from putting down Noah’s bag in his room. 

“Little man asked for lots of balloons.” Fin said, jestering to the millions of heart shaped and red, pink and white balloons everywhere. “Phoebe made me get those.” He pointed towards some behind her. They were clear and had giant photos of Liv, Barba, and Noah in each of them. 

“Hey, you asked for something special to do. If you didn’t want my suggestion, you should not have asked.” Phoebe smacked him on the arm and turned towards Amanda, “Look at the back of each of them.” 

Amanda pulled the balloon of Noah down and on the back of the photo it read, “Will you be our Valentine? Love Mommy and Uncle Rafa.” Tears sprung to the corners of her eyes, so she collected herself and reached for the one of Liv, and it said the same signed Love, Rafa and Noah. She quickly wiped the corners of her eyes and turned to Phoebe, “Oh, they are perfect!”

Phoebe turned to Fin, “See, told ya!” 

Fin hmphed at her and went back to laying out the cards he had been given from Noah on the counter. He sure hoped that this was worth all of this effort, he had seen the sadness in his best friend’s eyes as he had asked her opinion of the ring he had picked out for Phoebe when he had proposed. Liv had been through hell over the last 20 years, she deserved happiness finally. 

“Fin,” Amanda called out. 

“What?” he responded, rolling his eyes. Women!, he thought to himself.

“You should have seen her this morning. Eyes lit up like Christmas.” Amanda gushed. 

“Well, her kid better be ready to hear it if she doesn’t like this.” He joked. 

“Fin, shut up.” Phoebe said, slapping his arm again.

Amanda felt her phone buzz, “Oh, looks like everyone is tired. Better go rescue them from the park. You got 30 minutes to get everything set. Dinner all good?” She said, grabbing her jacket and texting a response to Liv quickly.

“Told you I got this.” Fin quipped back at her. 

“We will be gone in 15. See you later at dinner.” Phoebe called after Amanda as she walked out the door to the elevator. 

Amanda looked back at the door and said a prayer that this worked as they planned. She really wanted this to work out for Liv. She deserved the happiness more than anyone she knew. 

Amanda dropped them off and asked again if Liv wanted her to take Noah for the night, with a wink, and Liv turned her down again. So, she left Carisi in the car with the girls and got Noah out and whispered in his ear, “Everything is all set. Good luck! Dinner will be here at 7. FaceTime me later and tell me how it went. Love you!” 

“Thanks, Auntie!” Noah whispered back, giving her a hug. “Can you tell Uncle Fin and Uncle Sonny I said thank you please.”

“Yea, we are all going to be at my house, waiting to hear from you! Be good for your mom.”

Amanda turned around and waved goodnight to Liv and Barba as they walked in her apartment and she hopped back in the car. “Noah is going to call us when he goes to “bed.” 

“I am going to be so nervous until we hear from him.” Carisi said as she pulled into traffic. They were all going to be sitting on pins and needles until they heard from their nephew or their boss later, depending on her reaction. 

As they rode up in the elevator, Noah tried to hide his excitement, but his mom saw right through it, “What has you all excited?” 

“Nothing, Mom. Just happy Uncle Rafa is back.” He smiled at the two of them. He really hoped that his plan worked. Uncle Fin said that he had left the valentines out on the counter as he asked. He had made them by himself earlier in the week and had Lucy drop them off on her way home. 

The elevator finally dinged at their floor and he was ushered out with his mom and Rafa following behind. The anticipation was nearly killing him. Finally, his mom unlocked the door and they walked in. Noah quickly shed his boots and coat, and went to run to the kitchen to turn on all the lights. “Noah, pick up your coat. You need to take a bath before dinner.” 

He ran back and quickly hung up his coat and hit the lights. He smiled from ear to ear, it was perfect. There were balloons everywhere! They even had balloons with their faces in them. 

Suddenly, he realized his mom had seen, “Barba, what did you do?” She exclaimed.

Rafael, who had been hanging his coat up when the sight was revealed, turned around to see what she was talking about, “Liv, I have no idea what you are talking about…” He paused. “Oh wow!”

Noah grinned like a cheshire cat, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” He yelled. “There are cards, you need to open the cards.” He ran over to the counter and pointed. 

“Noah?” she questioned. 

“Yea, Mom?” He sat on the barstool as still as an excited boy could manage.

“Did you know about this?” 

“No idea.” He lied.

“You are not supposed to lie.”

“But I am not lying.” 

“Liv, there are pictures of us on balloons!” Rafael exclaimed as he was still taking in the site of the room completely filled with balloons. 

Suddenly, they were all startled, when there was a knock at the door. Liv walked to it, and opened it cautiously, “Can I help you?”

“Delivery for Olivia Benson. Please sign here.” The delivery person handed her a receipt and a pen, and then two huge bags of food that had the name of her favorite Italian restaurant on the side. 

“Umm, ok, but I didn’t order anything.” Liv stammered.

“Ordered and prepaid. Have a great night.” The delivery person said as they walked back towards the elevator. 

“Umm, ok.” She said turning around and locking the door behind her. “I guess we have dinner guys.” She walked into the kitchen and put the bags down on the counter. 

“Liv, are you trying to tell me something?” Rafael said, walking into the kitchen with the balloon with his face on it in his hand. 

“Huh?” She said, looking at him confused. 

Noah meanwhile just kept giggling as he looked at the two of them so confused. It was turning out perfect. 

“Read the back of the photo.” He said, thrusting the balloon at her. 

As she read, she turned a deep shade of red. “Well, I, uh, well… I had no idea about this …..” She stuttered her reply.

“So, you don’t agree with it?” Rafa stammered himself, wondering if the one relationship he had always wished for was finally coming true. 

Noah decided that maybe it was time for him to go to his room for a bit, and then he would come back later and get some dinner. He slowly slid down off the stool and just as he was about to hit his door, they yelled, “And where do you think you are going, young man?” 

“Oh, I was just going to take my bath.” He smiled sheepishly at them.

“Nope, I think you need to explain yourself.” Liv spoke sternly, walking him back to the bar stool. She picked him up and placed him on it. “Did you know about this?” 

“Uh…. no, I told you that.” He stammered.

“Noah Porter Benson, if you are lying to me, you are grounded for a month. Explain.” She grilled him. 

“Well, I kinda knew.” He whispered softly.

“How do you kind of know?” She shrilled. She swore she was calmer with suspects than her own son. 

“Well, I knew that they were bringing dinner. Uncle Fin and I decided to do that for you for Valentine’s Day.” He was starting to feel like she was really mad, and that was making him sad. Tears started to prickle at his eyes. “We thought that it would be nice for you to not have to cook after playing in the snow all day. We planned it that day at the squad room when Uncle Rafa said that he would come sledding today.”

“Oh, Noah, that is sweet. Did Uncle Fin decide that a giant balloon party was necessary too?” She grilled him with her finger on her speed dial for Fin on her phone, about to rip him a new one.

“Well, no, not exactly.” Noah started. “Maybe you should talk to him. Or maybe just read the card - maybe the card explains it.” 

He handed his mom his card to her. He worked really hard on it this week, so he hoped that she liked it and maybe she would stop being so mad. 

She sighed and took the card from her son, trying her best to keep her patience strong and her anger at bay. On the front he had taken a picture of them and pasted it to the front, inside he had Lucy help him write out, “Happy Valentines Day, Mom. I hope you like your surprise and I hope that you let Uncle Rafa be our Valentine forever. He makes you happy and laugh, and you deserve that for being the best mom ever. Love you, Noah - your also Valentine.”

By the time she finished reading, the normally unemotional Olivia Benson, uncharacteristically had tears streaming down her face. She pulled her son into a huge hug, while she composed herself. 

“Mom, you are suffocating me.” Noah eeked out. 

“Oh sorry.” She let him go and wiped her eyes dry. “You lied to me.”

“Not exactly, Mom. They did not tell me what they were going to do. They just asked me what I wanted.” Noah explained. 

“Wait, they?” Liv suddenly registered the thought that there was more than one person involved in her son’s scheme. 

Meanwhile, Rafael was still looking at his balloon in complete confusion. “Care to clue me in?” The speechless attorney finally spoke. 

“It seems that my son has decided that we needed a Valentine’s Day party and he roped his aunt and uncles into helping him, I am assuming.” She looked at Noah. “Do I have it correct?”

He nodded with a smile creeping into his face. 

“So, the balloon?” Rafael questioned again.

Noah decided it was time, he took over because his mom was taking forever to explain it. “You should be our forever Valentine and never go away again. Here read the card.” He said, pushing his uncle’s card towards him.

Rafael finally let go of the balloon and it floated to the ceiling again, and he slowly opened the card. “Uncle Rafa, Thank you for the best day ever and coming back to go sledding with me. You should come be mom’s forever Valentine because you make her laugh and smile. When you are gone she is sad, and I do not like her sad. Love you, Noah.”

Rafael was the one with tears in his eyes this time. “Oh, mijo” was all he got out before he went to hug Noah. 

“You are suffocating me too.” Noah eeked out again. “So, will you be our forever Valentine?” 

“Um, mijo, that is up to your mommy, not me.” 

“Well, Mom?” Noah looked around his uncle to his mom to see her expression. 

Liv cleared her throat, and said, “Well, I am sure it is something to be discussed. But I have no objections. Rafa?” 

“None here either.” Rafael and Liv smiled at her and Noah jumped down and ran to his room to grab his IPad. He quickly hit the Facetime icon and his Uncle Fin’s number. 

“Noah, what are you doing?” Liv called after him. 

He brought the IPad out to the living room, while he waited for his uncle to answer. When he didn’t, he called his auntie, who, of course, answered on the first ring.

“It worked, Auntie!!!” He yelled. 

~FIN~


End file.
